Source: Getty
WELCOME! To The AM1310 The Light Afternoons with Amos LIVE BLOG of the 2015 Primary Election Returns for Indianapolis/Marion County. As the returns come in we’ll be blogging the results, the trends shown and what they mean. When I feel enough votes have come in to determine a clear cut WINNER we’ll tell you that. Our goal is not to be FIRST to declare a winner but to be RIGHT! Refresh this post often to get the LATEST information.
2015 UNOFFICIAL INDY MARION COUNTY ELECTION RETURNS
11:08PM – SUMMARY OF INDY/MARION COUNTY PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS – Former Secretary of State and US Attorney Joe Hogsett will face Chuck Brewer former Marine veteran, Sears executive who moved to Indy from Chicago three years ago to run two downtown quick serve restaurants will face each other to be the next Mayor of Indianapolis. Both Democrat Hogsett and Republican Brewer won overwhelming victories against token opposition. In contested Council races, Republican Councilwoman Christine Scales, who had been bitterly opposed by leaders of the Marion County Republican party narrowly beat the endorsed Republican candidate Tim Craft in the fiercely contested Council District 3 GOP race. On the Democratic side, the battle of two incumbents, three term Councilwoman Angela Mansfield and one term Councilman Leroy Robinson is too close to call because of uncertainty over absentee ballot counts. As Tuesday evening ended, Robinson was leading Mansfield by 26 votes, with all precincts counted without absentee totals. Another Democratic endorsed Council candidate Stephanie Vibbert lost to Jared Evans who beat Vibbert by nearly 2-to-1. The school referendums in Beech Grove and Perry and Wayne Townships all won by comfortable and landslide margins.
10:30PM – URGENT UPDATE! Was informed at 10:03pm this evening by the Election Board and Clerks Office that the absentee ballot totals had NOT YET BEEN INCLUDED in the Marion County Unofficial Election Results. The new state law passed last year that went into effect last November, mandates a “central count” of absentee ballots, including early vote ballots, on election night at a central location. Marion County is the only Indiana county subject to this bizarre state mandated requirement. As a result, we can NOT call a winner in the District 1 Democratic primary race because there are possibly absentee ballots not yet included. Council Leroy Robinson is leading the race by 26 votes and may yet win. But with the uncertainty we can’t declare him the winner just yet.
9:15PM – LATER THIS EVENING WE’LL HAVE A SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS. ABOVE IS A LINK TO THE UNOFFICIAL RETURNS.
9:08PM – ANGELA MANSFIELD COMEBACK FALLS SHORT. ROBINSON WINS BY 26 VOTES – In the hotly contested race between two Democratic Council incumbents, three-term Councilwoman Angela Mansfield made up ground against Councilman Leroy Robinson. She had been behind 2-to-1 early but gained ground. However, she felkl short losing to Robinson by just 26 votes! A classic case that literally every vote in the contest made a difference. No one know who Robinson will face in November, as Republicans had no candidate on the primary ballot and a candidate has to be selected next month by GOP officials.
8:54PM – SCHOOL REFERENDUMS EASILY WIN IN MARION COUNTY – The school referendums in Beech Grove, Perry and Wayne Townships all won easily. The largest margins were in Beech Grove where the referendums passed by a nearly 3-to-1 margin. Wayne Township voters approved their referendum by nearly 2-to-1 and the referendum in Perry Township won comfortably.
8:49PM – CHRISTINE SCALES BEATS TIM CRAFT IN GOP DIST 3 RACE – With all votes counted in unofficials returns, Incumbent GOP Councilwoman Christine Scales has beaten slated Republican candidate Tim Craft by 110 votes in major defeat for Marion County Republican party leaders.
8:45PM – THE DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL RACE IN DISTRICT 1 HAS BECOME A NAIL BITER – With just 2 precincts uncounted, Angela Mansfield has made up the gap and is behind by 18 votes to leroy Robinson in the battle of Democratic incumbents.
8:16PM – AS EXPECTED, MORE DEMOCRATS VOTED IN TODAY’S INDY PRIMARY THAN REPUBLICANS. With 83% of vote counted, 500 of 600 precincts, 56% of those voting voted in the Democratic primary, 41% voted in the Republican primary and the rest voted just in one of the three school board referendums in the county.
7:52PM – IS ANGELA MANSFIELD MAKING A COMEBACK – With 12 of 26 precincts counted, Angela Mansfield has cut the gap between herself and Leroy Robinson in the battle of Democratic Incumbents. At one point Mansfield was losing 2-to-1. Now is she’s behind by only 51 votes with less than half (46%) of vote counted.
7:43PM – POSSIBLE UPSET BREWING IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY. In Council District 22 on the southside, Stephanie Vibbert was the slated Democratic candidate. But with 10 of 21 precincts in (47%) Vibbert is losing by 38 votes (58% to 42%) to Jared Evans.
7:36PM – BEECH GROVE SCHOOL REFERENDUM WINNING BIG – A third of the vote in the Beech Grove schools referendum is in and its winning by a three-to-one margin.
7:33PM – SCALES MOVES AHEAD IN TIGHT GOP COUNCIL DIST 3 RACE. With 13 of 27 precincts counted (48% of vote), Christine Scales has moved into the lead of Tim Craft by 61 votes. 53% to 47%
7:28PM – SCHOOL REFERENDUMS LEADING SO FAR – The referendums in three Marion County School Districts asking permission to increase property taxes for transportation and improvement needs are so far winning. In Wayne and Perry Townships the referendums are leading by comfortable margins. With support strongest in Wayne Township. No results yet for the Beech Grove schools referendum.
Source: Joe Hogsett / Amos Brown
Source: amos / amos
7:23PM HOGSETT & BREWER TO FACE EACH OTHER FOR MAYOR. BOTH WIN THEIR PRIMARIES. With 31% of the vote in and with Joe Hogsett leading his opponent 89% to 11% and Chuck Brewer leading four opponents with 77% of the vote, we can safely say both have won their respective party primaries tonight and will face each other and a yet to be named Libertarian Party candidate in the race for the open seat for Indianapolis Mayor.
7:15PM NEARLY QUARTER OF VOTE IN. Joe Hogsett and Chuck Brewer continues their huge leads. We have first returns in the Democratic Council District 1 race. Just 1 precinct reporting and Leroy Robinson, the slated candidates is leading 65% to 35% over Angela Mansfield in the battle of incumbents. In the GOP Council District 3 race, Tim Craft leads Christine Scales the incumbent by 12 votes with 5 of 27 precincts reporting.
7:10PM WITH 14% 1/7TH OF VOTE IN JOE HOGSETT AND CHUCK BREWER HAVE HUGE LEADS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE MAYOR PRIMARY RACES. Hogsett holding to 89% of the vote against Larry Vaughn’s 11%. Chuck Brewer holding at 77% of the vote against 4 opponents.
7:05PM REPUBLICAN COUNCIL DISTRICT 3 PRIMARY SEEMS TO GETTING INTERESTING EARLY. With 3 of 27 precincts counted the race between maverick Republican incumbent Councilwoman Christine Scales and endorsed candidate Tim Craft is extremely close. Craft is ahead by just 6 votes with 11% of vote in.
7:00pm – EARLY RETURNS SHOW FAR MORE DEMOCRATS VOTING SO FAR THAN REPUBLICANS IN INDY PRIMARY – With 46 of 600 precincts reporting countywide, two-thirds of the ballots counted are in the Democratic primary as opposed to the GOP primary. That should flatten out some, but it’ll be interesting to see if more Democrats voted in this lackluster primary than Republicans.
6:55PM – FIRST INDY PRIMARY RESULTS – Wth almost 4% of the vote in, Joe Hogsett leads Larry Vaughn in the democratic Mayor primary 89% to 11% with 22 of 600 precincts reporting. In the GOP mayor primary, Chuck Brewer has 73% of the early GOP voters in with Jocelyn Tandy-Adande next at 9% and Terry Michael with 8.2%
6:05PM – POLLS HAVE CLOSED. AND ALREADY WE CAN DECLARE SOME WINNERS IN THE PRIMARY RACES FOR CITY-COUNTY COUNCIL! Here are the winners, candidates who were unopposed in their primary contests. Incumbents shown in BOLD. DEMOCRATS/CITY-COUNTY COUNCIL. District 2 – Kip Tew; District 3 – Pamela Hickman; District 4 – Ray Biederman; District 5 – Curtis W. Bigsbee; District 6 – Frank Islas; District 7 – Joe Simpson; District 8 – Monroe Gray; District 9 – William Oliver; District 10 – Maggie Lewis; District 11 – Vop Osili; District 12 – Blake Johnson; District 13 – Stephen Clay; District 14 – La Keisha Jackson; District 15 – Christopher Wall; District 16 – Emily Shrock; District 17 – Zach Adamson; District 18 – Edwin Barnes; District 19 – David Ray; District 20 – Jon Easter; District 21 – Frank Mascari; District 25 – Jeff Wheeler. REPUBLICANS/CITY-COUNTY COUNCIL – District 2 – Colleen Fanning; District 4 – Mike McQuillen; District 5 – Jeff Coats; District 6 – Janice Shattuck McHenry; District 12 – Susan Marie Smith; District 13 – Terri Miller-Penquite; District 15 – Marilyn Pfisterer; District 16 – Jeff Miller; District 17 – Sally Spiers; District 18 – Susie Cordi; District 19 – Benjamin Hunter; District 20 – Jason Holliday; District 21 – Anthony Davidson; District 22 – Robert Lutz; District 23 – Scott Kreider; District 24 – Jack Sandlin; District 25 – Aaron Freeman.
LIVE BLOGGING WILL START SOMETIME AFTER 6PM THIS EVENING! Trends to look for. How strong will Joe Hogsett’s victory margin be over activist Larry Vaughn? Hogsett needs a big margin to continue his campaign’s momentum. Can Jocelyn Tandy-Adande upset the Republican endorsed candidate Charles “Chuck” Brewer who is still unknown to most voters, including Republicans. If Brewer wins how much of the GOP vote will he receive? In the two big City-County Council races, can Incumbent Republican Christine Scales, who’s been treated as an outcast by her party for standing up against bad ideas from the Ballard Administration, overcome party leaders antipathy and beat the endorsed candidate Tim Craft in Council District 3 which includes the Castleton, Keystone at the Crossing, Allisonville and Binford Boulevard corridor neighborhoods? In the northwest side in Council District 1, which includes northwestern Pike Township and northwestern Washington Township can three term incumbent Councilwoman Angela Mansfield beat At Large, first term Councilman Leroy Robinson in the hotly contested Democratic primary? Robinson got the party’s endorsement while Mansfield is going against the “slate”.
